Prepping For The Golf Season

Golf season in Michigan officially began April 1. Masters Week is often thought of as the unofficial start everywhere.

That said, even in northern climes, for many the golf season never really ends. And for no one is that more true than your neighborhood golf staff. Practically speaking, planning and preparation for the summer season are year-round jobs.

I think running a golf course has some similarities to running a classroom as a teacher. If you are in a classroom and everything is running smoothly (and it perhaps looks like the teacher isn’t working very hard) it is only because of an enormous amount of effort behind the scenes. I budgeted at least an hour outside of school for every hour spent in the classroom. That included lesson planning and grading (which is a form of preparation, as a good teacher must know what the students have learned to know what needs to be re-teached.). Additional hours were spent keeping up with the latest knowledge in my field (just keeping up with Supreme Court decisions was a big deal) and staying current with teaching research best practices.

Teachers, however, do not operate in a vacuum. I was successful only because of the efforts of custodians, secretaries, counselors, social workers, psychologists and administrators. If any of those fell short, the entire educational experience was impacted.

I have long said that teaching is like an iceberg. The visible part isn’t the important part.

Similarly, if your four-hour visit to a golf course is an enjoyable experience, it is only because of the thousands of hours of preparation behind the scenes by the owner, the Superintendent, the Pro, the General Manager, the grounds crew, the pro shop staff, the restaurant staff, the cart crew and so on. If any of those fall short, the entire golf experience falls short.

As a year-round golfer in Michigan, I have observed the grounds crews at Washtenaw Golf Club out long before the season officially begins, and long after it ends. I imagine that some were at work even when snow covered the course, maintaining equipment and planning for the season.

Superintendent Mark Pappas, Assistant Superintendent Harold Larsen and the rest of the crew at Washtenaw aerated the greens at the end of March, trying to squeeze the project in between days of stormy weather. I know a lot of golfers who grumble about aerated greens, but for me, they are a great thing to see. Aeration promises fast, smooth, healthy greens in our peak golf months.

No doubt the crew at your favorite course has been similarly busy. As bad as the winters in southeast Michigan can be, I can only imagine how much more work is involved in re-opening a course in Northern Michigan, such as Indian River Golf Club or one of the Boyne properties, both of which I enjoy very much during the summer.

Also busy at Washtenaw have been Head Golf Pro Zach Szawara, Pro Shop Manager Rob Bedder and the pro shop staff. They are the daily faces of the course — the classroom teachers, if you will.

Daily play, special outings and golf days don’t organize themselves. Troubleshooting and problem solving are minute by minute complications. I have observed them in action as groups show up late; or early; sending people off the back to avoid crowds on the front; monitoring pace of play; rescuing people who have managed to disable their carts; defusing temper tantrums; creating ad hoc pairings; all while the phone is constantly ringing and people are lining up at the cash register.

One study I saw said that a teacher makes 1,500 meaningful decisions a day — four a minute. Physicians, according to similar studies, make 90 – 120. Air traffic controllers are said to make as many as a thousand in a shift.

I think golf pros probably come closer to teachers and air traffic controllers than doctors.

For example, knowing the regulars and who they like to play with has to be every bit as complicated as knowing which kids you can’t sit next to each other in a classroom.

I hope as a golfer that I’m the kid the teacher can sit next to anyone without worries.

Zach and Rob also were at the clubhouse all winter long running the golf simulators. For them, it never ends. Similarly, good teachers don’t sit around all summer long and do nothing; there is always something to do to plan for the next year. I actually spent a lot of time during my summers reading and digesting new material.

The Washtenaw pro shop has a great selection of merchandise right now — and will throughout the season. The merchandise just doesn’t show up and arrange itself on the shelves. Orders must be placed months ahead of time. It takes hours of planning to ensure that seasonal merchandise shows up in the proper season.

I think pro shop planning is probably similar to lesson planning for a classroom. You spend unnatural hours making sure that everything looks natural to the students / customers. (Anyone have an elementary school teacher who seemed to have special outfits for every occasion and holiday? That doesn’t happen without planning).

Having been to the PGA Show, I can tell you that the golf merchandise industry is an overwhelming madhouse of choices. I wouldn’t even begin to know where to begin to successfully stock a pro shop.

For my money, a course that has a well-organized, well-stocked merchandise selection makes the overall experience better. Even if I don’t buy anything, a nice pro shop makes me feel as though the staff cares — just as a well-organized classroom can make a student feel as though the teacher cares.

Washtenaw’s general manager, Tim Czerniawski, is everything, everywhere, all at once. He’s the building principal every teacher wants, but rarely gets. You won’t see Director of Sales Donna Hatch, but if she wasn’t there, it would work as well as a school without support staff (which is to say not at all). The restaurant staff keeps the golfers fed and hydrated.

In a classroom, hungry, thirsty kids get grumpy and can ruin a day.

And above all that is an ownership team — whose public face now is Karen Kendall — that really cares about the course. You can tell when administration cares about the school; the same is true of ownership and management at a course.

This summer, if you’re enjoying a round, thank a member of the team that makes it all possible.

And if you can read this, thank a teacher.